Qantas has been ranked the safest airline in the world for the third year running by AirlineRatings.com.

The safety and product rating website monitors 407 airlines, basing its annual list on factors ranging from airline fatality records to government reports.

"AirlineRatings.com’s editorial team also examined each airline’s operational history, incident records and operational excellence," it says.

Its 20 safest airlines, in alphabetical order, are:

Air New Zealand

Alaska Airlines

All Nippon Airlines

American Airlines

Cathay Pacific Airlines

Emirates

Etihad Airways

EVA Air

Finnair

Hawaiian Airlines

Japan Airlines

KLM

Lufthansa

Scandinavian Airline System

Singapore Airlines

Swiss

United Airlines

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Australia

Qantas enjoys "a fatality-free record in the jet era - an extraordinary record," AirlineRatings.com notes on its website.

"Over its 95-year history, the world’s oldest continuously operating airline has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in operations and safety and is now accepted as the industry’s most experienced carrier," it added.

2015 was "a disturbing year" for airline safety, the website says, with high-profile incidents like a pilot's deliberate crashing of Germanwings flight 9525 and the disintegration of Metrojet Flight 9268 due to a suspected bomb making headlines.

However, data from Aviation-Safety.net shows the year to have been an improvement on 2014. 16 air accidents and 560 fatalities is below both the 10-year average and the 2014 figures, when there were 21 fatal accidents and 986 fatalities.

148 of 407 airlines examined received the top, seven-star rating this year.

AirlineRatings.com also unveiled its list of the world's least safe airlines, with 10 - all from Nepal, Indonesia or Surinam - qualifying for just one or zero stars.